Big date for Duke Special at the Market Place Theatre

Duke Special.

Published:07:02Sunday 24 July 2016

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“An Evening with Duke Special” will be one of the highlights at the John Hewitt Summer School at Market Place in Armagh

Duke Special was keen to be part of the summer school programme because of his own cultural breadth and wide literary interests. His concept album, “The Silent World of Hector Mann”, was based on the Paul Auster novel,“ The Book of Illusions” and he has recently written an adaptation of “Gulliver’s Travels”, staged in Belfast by Youth Music Theatre NI.

Duke Special is one of Ireland’s most talented, versatile and entertaining musicians. He has released a total of eight studio albums in a 10 year span – from 2005’s “Adventures in Gramophone” to this year’s “Look Out Machines!”. His sublime 2007 offering “Songs From The Deep Forest” went platinum, was nominated for the Choice Music Prize and delivered his most successful hit single, “Freewheel”.

Not content with just studio work, his creative talents have seen Duke Special involved in projects as diverse as writing the theme tune for the Irish Sesame Street to writing the music for and appearing with acclaimed actress Fiona Shaw in Deborah Warner’s critically acclaimed 2009 production of Bertolt Brecht’s ‘Mother Courage and Her Children’ at The National Theatre in London.

Duke has performed with the Ulster and RTE Concert Orchestra’s, collaborated with the super-group Clannad and has been commissioned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York to write a series of original songs based on photographs from their exhibition of photographers Stieglitz, Steichen and Strand.

Playing live is where Duke really shines with his theatrical-styled shows making him one of the hottest live tickets in the country. And his Market Place concert, An Evening with Duke Special, supported by Cunningham Coates, promises to be a magical show exploring forgotten old dusty manuscripts along with songs from his most recent album, ‘Look Out Machines!’.

This latest album has seen the locally born singer-songwriter exploring new musical ground with top collaborators and heralds the return of an artist at the very top of his game. It is a deeply personal album filled with beautiful, elegant piano riffs and his Market Place concert promises to be an emotional night and a great chance to catch this unique talent.

If you haven’t seen Duke Special live before, now is the time! If you have, you will welcome the opportunity to be entertained by someone truly ‘special’ at The Market Place Theatre on Tuesday 26 July at 8.30pm. Tickets can be booked at the Box Office on 028 3752 1821 ore Online at www.marketplacearmagh.com.